Saturday, April 4, 1998

Lent a season of preparation before Easter

By KELLY PIGOTT / Guest Columnist

I remember the day well.

I was only 8 years old, but I had discovered something so ominous, so serious it had to be confessed to my parents as soon as possible. They were getting ready to go out, so I knew I didn't have much time.

Besides, my courage was waning. If I waited too long I might chicken out, which is the absolute worst an 8-year-old boy can do.

As I looked down on the floor and shuffled my feet back and forth under the bed, I took a deep breath.

"Mom ... Dad, I need to tell you something."

Mom sensed the gravity in my voice.

"Yes," she said while pulling a curler from her hair. Dad continued to look in the mirror and fix his tie.

My hands were getting clammy now. Determined, I sighed heavily and blurted it out all at once.

"I saw Dad put the baskets out last night. I now know that there really isn't an Easter Bunny."

There, I said it. Innocence was gone. Though the mystery of a childhood fantasy disappeared at that time, years later, when I became a Christian, I rediscovered a real mystery that brought back the wonder, splendor and innocence I had lost at age 8.

The mystery is really not so much something hidden as something incomprehensible -- the fact that we matter so much to God he sent his only son to die for us.

We hear this message every Sunday at church, and over the years the truth can lose its luster. But this time of year, known among many church traditions as "Lent," is designed to restore its mystery, awe and wonder.

Last week, we peeled away the first layer of Lent to discover that Easter is a special Sunday the early church leaders set aside to joyfully celebrate the event in which Jesus rose from the dead.

Now, the second layer we need to understand is Lent itself. The Christian leaders wanted Easter to be different from all the other Sundays, so they decided a time of preparation for it ought to be created.

At first they asked people to fast, pray and study for 40 days prior to Easter. This was taken from the episode where Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness doing the same thing.

Now, 40 days is a long time to go without food, so to prepare for it they decided to add a big party the day before the fasting started. Eventually this day became Fat Tuesday, and feasting on this day became the given excuse for celebrating Mardi Gras.

Later, the church realized asking people to fast for an entire 40 days was a bit much, so eventually the church simply asked people to refrain from eating meat on Friday, and also to give up something they really like over Lent.

The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. The ashes represent something the church calls "repentance." In the Old Testament, whenever people wanted to express to God how truly sorry they were for messing up, they put on sackcloth and ashes.

The ash plus-signs many people wear on their foreheads on this day are crosses, signifying that the bearers are beginning their time of preparation for Easter.

For you see, people of faith have known for a long time that true peace and intimacy with God begins with taking responsibility for our mess-ups -- not to earn forgiveness, but to experience freedom from them by receiving God's grace.

For the first part of Lent, Christians around the world have been doing just that.

The last layer we need to understand about Lent is the final seven days called Holy Week.

A long time ago a man named Cyril, who lived in Jerusalem, thought it would be a great faith-booster if believers could experience what happened to Jesus the week before He resurrected. Think of it as his version of a multi-media presentation.

What Cyril did was simply to link the days of the week before Easter with an event in the life of Christ. On Palm Sunday Christians participate in a processional from the Mount of Olives just like Jesus did when He entered Jerusalem.

On Tuesday a portion of Jesus' sermons is read; on Maundy Thursday they celebrate a Christian Passover; on Good Friday, Christians hold a service beneath a cross that is thought to be near where Jesus was crucified; on Saturday night a prayer vigil is held; and then on Easter Sunday, beginning at dawn, they throw a resurrection party.

The fact that Jesus came back from the dead is a big deal. For nearly two millennia now the majority of Christians have devoted the 40 days before Easter -- Lent -- to rediscovering the mystery of it.

All across Abilene this April, churches will offer opportunities to help you do the same. Take advantage of them.

Perhaps this year, you'll experience a miracle as the mystery of God's love becomes (more) real to you.